Monday, May 13, 2013

For some time now, I have been into genealogy, exploring my family history.
My great grandmother was Mary Jane Baker, born in Liverpool, England in 1870, of Irish parents.
She came to New York with her parents and brothers when she was 3 years old.

When I saw The Mary Baker Sampler, I knew I had to stitch it! Of course, this Mary Baker is not a relative of mine, but I thought it would be fun to have her name on my wall.

Mary Baker Sampler - The Scarlet Letter

Here is the photo I took of my progress the other day:

I am using DMC on 30 count linen. The piece of linen didn't seem to be that big, so I chose to start in the center and work my way up.
Most of the sampler is stitched in green and red, with a touch of pink. The verse is stitched in black.

This seems to be a very quick stitch. I have already made more progress. I will be back in a few days with another photo.

The photo could be better. I don't know why, but I had trouble capturing it. I love the graceful borders, as well as the funky cat!

Things here have been quite nerve-wracking lately, and I have had some trouble focusing on any one project. I have flitted about a bit.

I worked a little on American Sampler Quilt, a long standing WIP. This is a cross stitch lap quilt. The design is stamped on, so it is perfect for what I like to call, my "brain-dead" stitching! I have completed about 1-1/2 of the 4our motifs .I finished the star, and I am about halfway through with the Dresden plate motif. Here is where I left off.

Also, I found an unfinished Lee needlepoint Arts & Crafts design. I love the arts & Crafts era, and I just hate to see things go unfinished!
It was mostly completed (not by me), but needed a little bit more fill in with the cream color. Of course, the yarn was long ago lost. I set out to try to find a match. I tried all of my wool yarns, to no avail. Finally, I realized that it had a bit of a sheen to it. It was probably acrylic, and meant that I would never find a match. I decided to try to match it with a DMC color. I used all six strands.

Here is the whole design:

﻿

Art Nouveau canvas -Lee Designs

Here is one of the sections I filled in:

The match wasn't exact, but I was lucky in that the missing areas were separated from the block (central heart-shaped) area of the cream, so I think it worked out pretty well. It is a little bit too white, and a little too thin, but otherwise, it would not have been finished at all.
Sometimes you have to cheat a little to get the job done!
I am hoping to find some dark green velveteen, and finish it as a pillow.